Your Yogurt Tub Says ‘Widely Recyclable’—but Is It Being Recycled?
Saabira Chaudhuri | August 17, 2022 | The Wall Street Journal
Companies are set to start labeling plastic packaging commonly used for yogurt, cottage cheese and butter as “widely recyclable,” sparking opposition from some environmental groups who say the change risks misleading consumers.
A labeling program founded by plastics makers such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and consumer products companies including Procter & Gamble Co. and Nestle SA said in July month that packaging made from polypropylene was now eligible to be marketed as “widely recyclable.”
The program, How2Recycle, said it made the change after data showed that more than 60% of consumers in the U.S.—the threshold required under federal rules to make the claim—are now allowed to put polypropylene tubs, bottles, jugs and jars in their recycling bins.
Environmental groups say access figures are less than half what the industry is claiming. They also say figures on access to recycling facilities are a poor representation of recycling rates in practice, since they simply measure what is eligible to be collected.
Polypropylene packaging—one of the most widely used for consumer products—had a U.S. recycling rate of 2.7% in 2018, according to most recently available data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The clash is emblematic of wider inconsistencies across the U.S. over how recycling is measured and communicated to consumers. One nonprofit found at least 18 ways in which recycling is defined by states, while America’s roughly 9,800 municipal curbside recycling programs make their own decisions about what materials to accept, often confusing consumers.
There are no federal requirements on recycling rates. A spokeswoman for the EPA said some states measure recycling by counting what is diverted from landfills, while some don’t calculate a recycling rate at all.
The EPA last year said it plans to develop national recycling definitions and measures to help raise recycling rates. A May report from the Energy Department showed a recycling rate of just 5% for plastics, which environmentalists say is driven by the complexity of materials, making them difficult to recycle, and a lack of ready buyers.
Currently, recycling labels on packaging must comply with Federal Trade Commission requirements outlined in the agency’s Green Guides, which explain how marketers can avoid misleading consumers when making environmental claims. How2Recycles says its labels, voluntarily adopted by 400 member companies from Gap Inc. to Wendy’s Co. to Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, follow those guides.
